Living In The Apocalypse
by guardiantooth62
Summary: Did you ever think a zombie apocalypse would be possible? Neither did Brittany. Now, she must fight to defend her family from those menacing monsters.
1. Chapter 1: The Start

CHAPTER ONE

I remember exactly where I was the day it all began. I was sitting at home watching TV with my sister, Lucy. My parents were in the kitchen cooking for a family dinner.

"Lucy, I need to you nicely order the bread basket, alright?" Mom came in and handed her a straw basket and several rolls. "Make it pretty."

I watched as Lucy placed the bread so it fit the basket perfectly. She was always so good at ordering things. She hummed the theme song from her favorite cartoon, and I smirked. Even if she got on my nerves, she was pretty adorable.

"Brittany, please make the couch pillows look nice," Dad poured some soda into cups. They were really going all out to impress our family. When they got like that, it was best not to argue. So, I did as I was told and I made the living room look fancy. I sat back down hoping to enjoy some more relaxing.

"Mommy," Lucy yelled. "When will everyone be here?"

"Any minute now," Mom stirred the bowl of mashed potatoes. "Brittany, also get out the dishes. We're running late."

As I thud back to the ground, I heard screaming. "What was that?"

"Maybe it was the television," my dad suggested. "Brittany, please just set the table."

"I'm going," I walked to the cabinet, but I heard another scream. "Guys, that's not the TV."

_"Someone help us! Please!" _

"It's outside," Lucy pointed to the window. I ran over to look outside, and that's when I saw it.

My grandmother was being chased by one around her car. My grandpa was pulling out his pocket knife to kill it from the inside of the car.

"Oh, please! Get it away!" she screamed.

"How do you kill it if it's already dead?" my grandpa yelled back.

"Oh, my God," I whispered. Right then, my parents came over to see what was taking me so long.

"What is that?" Dad gasped.

"It's going to kill my mother!" Mom shrieked. "Seth, get the gun from the safe!" My dad quickly ran into their bedroom to get one of his handguns. Lucy and I watched in awe at our grandparents attempts to reach it. _Don't give up, guys! _I tried to yell, but it was stuck in my throat.

Suddenly, Dad ran out with his gun. Mom burst into tears and told him to save Grandma. I watched as he ran out and shot it in the head, and it fell down. Grandma and Grandpa ran up to the porch and hugged us all. My aunt, uncle, and cousins came out from the back seats of the minivan. All four of my cousins, Xander, Leda, Mark, and Chloe clung together. They were sobbing, and they came to us too.

"Do you know what that was?" gulped my grandma. Mom hugged her tight as they both cried.

Lucy piped up, "It's a zombie."

"How is it possible for them to be real?" we all sat inside. Dad and my Uncle, Toby, both took guns to guard our house from the zombies.

"I saw them on a cartoon on TV," Lucy explained. "They're dead that came back to life to try to eat you."

"Kathy, you let your youngest daughter watch a cartoon like that?" Grandma pressed her lips together and glared at Mom.

"Now is not the time for a parenting lecture," my aunt, Karmen, interrupted. "The point is, if there is one, there is more. We need to start preparing."

"She's right," Xander, who was my oldest cousin, agreed. "Soon we will lose the ability to use any electricity. We need to get food and protect each other."

"Lucy, how do the zombies go away?" I turned to my sister.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "It's just a show, it's not real."

"We need to figure it out," Leda said. "But the first step is getting supplies. We still have cars, and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Seth probably have gas in their barn. We should raid the all-purpose store."

"Raid?" Grandpa spoke up. "Why would we need to raid it?"

"If there are zombies, we need to get supplies," I shrugged. "Maybe there's no civilization left." Suddenly, we heard several gunshots. All of us ran to the window to see what was happening, and Dad and Toby were shooting tons of zombies!

"There's so many," whispered Mark.

"Maybe they're attracted to sound," Karmen gasped. "We need to use silent weapons. Bows, knifes, swords."

"Baseball bats are what they use in the show," Lucy said as she rummaged through her toy box. Before we could ask what she was doing, she pulled out three bats.

"Perfect for temporary weapons," Xander took one. "Some of us will need to stay home when we go to the grocery store. Lucy, Mark, and Chloe definitely are going to be staying." All three of them groaned. "Guys, you're the youngest. You could get seriously hurt."

"Fine," Mark agreed. Lucy and Chloe nodded.

"Who will be going to raid and who is going to stay?" I asked.

"There's no time for that now," Leda took a bat from Lucy. She pointed the bat toward the window, "Our dads are going to get killed!"

"You kids will, too, if you go out," Grandma pulled Leda away from the window.

"We'll be fine, Grandma," Leda handed me a bat. Then, all three of us went outside.

"Get away!" Dad yelled as he shot down a zombie. Its head lolled back and it crumpled to the ground. He looked to Toby, who was shooting but not killing any. "It needs to be in the head!" He focused back to the zombies and continued shooting.

"Noise attracts them!" I yelled. "Don't shoot!"

Dad and Toby hesitated, but brought down their guns. "Get them in the brain! We've decided that that's what's making them come back to life."

"Come on over here, zombies," Leda yelled. "Bring it in, ugly!" Soon, the zombies started walking toward us because of the yelling. When one got close, Xander smashed its head with the bat. Blood sprayed everywhere, and I thought I was going to puke. I needed to protect my family, so I too smashed a zombie's head. It fell to the ground and I yelped. Leda joined in and we killed them off.

For a moment, we all just looked around at the dead bodies. They didn't even look like people. They had blood covering them, patches of skin had been torn, and they had the most hideous eyes.

"We need to get supplies now," I broke the silence.

When we got back inside, the little ones were covering their eyes and crying. I thought to myself that they were going to need to get used to this. We would probably walk inside covered in blood on a daily basis from now on.

"Let's break into groups," Grandpa said. "This is much worse than I thought. We need all the weapons we can get."

"Luckily for us, we come from a family of hunters," Mom smirked. "We have plenty of guns and knives in the safe."

I followed Dad, Xander, Toby, and Grandpa into my parents' bedroom. Dad unlocked the safe and pulled out weapons. I finally got to see all the guns we had. He passed one gun and one knife out to everyone who didn't already have one except me.

"Excuse me?" I cleared my throat. "Missing someone?"

"We can't have too much noise, so you can't use a gun. If you use a knife, you'll have to get close. You're only 14, I don't think you can handle that," Dad closed the safe. "You can use your bow. You'll need to reload on arrows frequently, but hopefully we can pick some up at the all-purpose store."

"Okay," Toby checked his bullets. "Let's go."

We pulled into the almost empty store parking lot. I got an arrow ready and pulled it back just in case. Everyone else readied their guns.

We walked through the doors.

It was way worse than we were expecting.

Zombies in cashier uniforms limped around. Zombies in regular clothes were there too. There were hundreds. I gulped. How did they even get so many here? Is this where it all started? We were going to die. We were going to die. We were going to die.

"How will we ever get stuff with them here?" whispered Xander. "They'll kill us."

"We need to kill them," Dad walked backwards and we followed. "We'll kill them all off and grab anything we can get."

"I'll make the first shot," I pulled up my bow. "None of them will notice." I took a breath and released. The zombie fell to the ground, and others collapsed around it and began eating it. I covered my mouth.

"Disgusting," Grandpa shook his head. "Let's take them out." Almost in unison, they all shot at random zombies. Others began stumbling toward us. Quickly, I aimed at a female when I realized I knew her. She was my partner in my science class.

"Emily," I whispered as I brought down my bow.

"Brittany, shoot it!" Xander hissed. "It's going to kill you!"

I raised my bow as tears filled my eyes. I shut them just as I released my arrow. I heard a thud, and I knew I hit her. I know because that's where I aimed. I killed her.

No. She was already dead.

Now she was free.

~End Of Chapter One~


	2. Chapter 2: All-Purpose Store

CHAPTER TWO

I heard several more gunshots after I killed Emily. When I opened my eyes, I saw practically a pile of zombies.

"Are you going to help?" Dad asked as he shot down more.

"Yes," I pursed my lips and killed a few more zombies. After most of them were dead, I noticed that I was out of arrows. "I'm empty!"

Dad looked back at me. "We need to find some from here."

"Let's go inside and just kill as we go," Toby suggested. "The hunting aisle is pretty close." Everyone nodded, and we slowly walked inside. A few zombies came close, and Dad took out his knife and stabbed its head until it fell.

"There it is!" I whispered. We started going there when five zombies came around a corner. Xander got one, Dad got one, Toby got one, and Grandpa got one. The last one kept coming. Grandpa's knife got stuck in his zombie's head, and he couldn't get the fifth one. I had to do SOMETHING! I took the end of my bow and stabbed its head. I screamed a little, but I stopped myself. This was disgusting.

"Good job," Dad smirked. I didn't reply. That wasn't good. That was menacing.

"This is exactly what we need!" Xander ran over and grabbed a few pocket knives. I stole a spare bow and all the boxes of arrows. Dad took a few more boxes of handguns. Toby was in charge of taking bullets and ammunition. He took every single box and jammed it down his coat. Grandpa was in the aisle next to us taking as much food as he could get.

I opened all the packs of arrows and put them in my quiver.

"Xander, how many knifes did you get?" I whispered.

"I found about eight," he replied, still searching for more.

"Won't we need to get something for the little ones to defend themselves?" asked Toby, who had packs of bullets piling up in his pockets.

"We'll work on that if they ever need to leave the house," Dad said, and then he stopped. "No more guns. Is everyone set?"

All of them nodded. I started walking over to the next aisle when a zombie came up from behind me and started pulling me. Out of instinct, I screamed. I shouldn't have, because more started coming toward me. I pushed it off of me, but it started chasing me. "Help!" I shrieked. "Help me!"

"Duck!" yelled Xander. I did as told. I heard about five gunshots before I opened my eyes. They were all re-killed…right in front of me. I took a few deep breaths, and everyone was staring at me. I nodded just to show them I was okay.

"We need to figure out how this is happening," Dad adjusted his gun belt and walked over to the pile of zombies. He kneeled down, peering closely at it. Toby walked over, and Grandpa was there, too. I guess he came back to us when I was being attacked.

"Are you okay?" Xander asked me.

I replied, "Yeah, just scared." He nodded, understanding.

"Look at this," Grandpa pointed to the first zombie that attacked me. It was laying stomach first. I squinted at it, when I saw a big bite mark on its shoulder. "Do you think that's how they turn? They get bit?"

"This one over here doesn't have any bite marks," Toby inspected another. "It has a lot of scratches, though. Maybe it has the same affect."

"So, I guess the only way to avoid not becoming one is to not get bit or scratched," I shrugged. They all looked at me, and I put my hands up in defense, "It didn't hurt me! I'm good."

Dad nodded, "I guess we've figured it out. Well, part of it. Let's go over what everyone got."

Grandpa picked up a small basket full of canned goods that hardly have an expiration date. They were stacked high.

"Good job," my dad smiled to him. "That will come in handy." Then, he walked over to Toby.

"I got bullets and amo," Toby pointed to his pockets.

"That will do us good for a while, but it won't last forever," Dad moved on to Xander, who proudly showed his new knife collection. Dad nodded and walked over to me.

"I just got stuff for my bow," I pointed to the large amount of arrows.

"You're gonna need to reuse some arrows," he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Does that mean…I have to take them out of…," I covered my mouth, and he nodded.

"We should get back," Grandpa said as he put his basket around his shoulder and pulled up his gun. We all agreed and readied our weapons. I loaded my bow with my brand new arrows and we slipped out of the place. On the way, I saw Emily lying there lifelessly. At least she was safe now.

~End Of Chapter Two~


	3. Chapter 3: Fatality

CHAPTER THREE

The sun was nearly set, but so far it had been quiet out. We finished dinner, and started getting ready for bed. Since things here haven't gotten bad, we should enjoy the time for sleep that we have.

"Who's going to take the first shift?" asked Xander.

"Toby and I will stay out until we get tired," Dad said.

"I'll go for the next shift," Grandpa replied. "Who will go with me?"

"I will," Xander said. The entire household exchanged nervous glances. "I'm 19 years old, I'll be fine."

"Alright, let's get some shut-eye," Karmen said as she got into her sleeping bag on the loveseat. Xander and Mark went over to get a hug goodnight before they went upstairs.

"Mom," I heard Lucy whisper to my mom. "I'm scared."

"Its okay honey," she kissed her forehead. "You've got Brittany, Xander, and Leda to protect you." Lucy faked a smile and walked upstairs

"Goodnight, Mom," I hugged her. She smiled as I walked upstairs with everyone.

As soon as we all got comfortable, the lights started flickering. We all sat up.

"What's happening?" whispered Mark.

"Are we losing power?" asked Chloe.

None of us answered. Leda pulled out her gun, and Xander did the same. My bow and quiver was wedged between my bed and the wall, so I pulled it out. The little kids covered themselves up with their blankets. Slowly, all 3 of us tip toed across the room. I peeked into Lucy's room to see if Mom was awake, but she wasn't there.

"My mom isn't in there," I told them.

"Let's see what's happening," Leda started walking down the stairs, and we followed. I almost slipped because the lights were still flickering and I couldn't see.

Finally, we reached downstairs. Surprisingly, everyone was up looking out the windows. Dad and Toby were still on watch, standing on top of the roof.

"What's happening?" Leda asked.

My mom turned around and shushed us. We quietly walked over to the window with the group to see a herd of zombies walking through the street. They were walking right into the electricity pole, knocking it over. That explains the lights flickering.

You could hear the growl of the zombies from inside the house. I was worried about Dad and Toby, but they were armed.

"They have to start shooting," whispered Grandma.

"If they shoot, the walkers will come straight to us," Karmen replied.

Xander groaned, "So, we just have to wait for them to pa-"

He was cut off by the house going entirely dark. I heard the screams from the little ones upstairs.

"Be quiet!" hissed Leda. I felt my way around the room and found the stairs. I made my way upstairs and found my room as well.

"Guys, are you okay?" I asked.

"Y-Yes," whimpered Lucy. "It's dark…"

"I know, it will be okay," I assured them. "You need to be quiet. There are lots of walkers outside right now, and if you're loud, they will hear you."

I heard footsteps and I flashed around, even though I couldn't see.

"It's just me," mumbled Xander, knowing we would be nervous. I heard a little click, and a beam of light burst out. "I always bring a spare flashlight."

"Thank you, Xander!" Chloe smiled.

"Now that we can see, I have a flashlight somewhere in here," I began digging through my drawers. "Found it! I'll bring this one downstairs."

We left the kids with one flashlight, and they found my drawing supplies, so they were coloring. Xander and met up with the rest of the group, who were still anxiously looking out the window into the darkness. I walked over next to Grandma to look outside to see the last few zombies stumble by they knocked over electricity post.

For the first time all day, I wondered where Dad and Toby were. Obviously, they were on watch, but where? My thoughts were interrupted by a bang on the door.

"Let me in, now!" Dad frantically yelled. Karmen ran over to the door and unlocked it. He practically burst through!

"Dad, what's wrong?" I asked.

He had tears streaming down his face, and he shook his head. His eyes suddenly widened at something, and he slowly rose his hand pointing. Karmen turned around, and instantly covered her mouth.

"What is it?" Leda begged. She skipped over, but stopped in her tracks, "No, no, no, no! It's not real, it's not!"

Karmen's hands were still over her mouth, her cheeks wet with tears. What was happening?

Dad shook his head and took out his knife as a walker started stumbling through the door. Leda and Karmen looked away as Dad killed it off.

"No!" shrieked Leda. I ran over to see Toby lying on the ground. A bite mark in his arm, yellow eyes, and blood splattered on his shirt. I just stood their blankly and not knowing what to think. The rest of the group came over, and they were in shock. Xander was the last to come over. He came through the crowd to see what happened. When he saw his father, he slowly fell to his knees.

I wiped my eyes and glanced at the stairs to see all three little kids standing there. Their jaws were dropped, and tears were falling.

Four kids now had no father.

~End Of Chapter Three~


	4. Chapter 4: Funeral Guests

CHAPTER FOUR

I winced as the bright sun blocked my view. I put my hand up to block it away. I sighed. I didn't want to be here. This shouldn't be happening.

"We are here today to celebrate the life of Toby," Mom said as we stood around the Toby's grave. "He was a brave man. Seth, would you like to say a few words?"

Dad stepped forward, "Not only was he my brother-in-law, he was my friend. If anyone deserved this, it was me. He sacrificed his life to protect me."

"Please, tell me how it happened," sobbed Karmen, holding all of her kids in a hug. "I need to know he died with meaning."

"The herd was walking through, and we were on the roof," sighed Dad, tears filling his eyes. "At first, we only thought it was a few walkers. Toby and I climbed down, ready to fight. We saw the whole herd and knew it was too much. We started running back, but a walker grabbed hold of me. Toby kicked it down. As I was thanking him, it came back up and chomped on him. I stabbed the walker, but we know that's how you turn." He stopped for a moment to wipe his eyes. "And...and he was dying. I pulled him away from the herd to see if there was anything I could do. He started fading fast. I didn't think it could happen that fast! He died, and I sat there crying, thinking I had time. But then, bam, he was back up and moving again."

I covered my eyes. I didn't want people to see me crying. I heard someone walking off, so I peeked out. Xander was walking away. I guess he was too embarrassed to cry. I looked over to Chloe and Mark. They were huddled together sobbing, and Leda was crying, too. Karmen was holding onto all of them with all of her might. I looked away, not wanting to see this tragic sight.

"My daddy," whispered Chloe. I shut my eyes. Stop it, stop it! Hot tears stung my face. Visions of Toby lying there as a walker flashed before my eyes. Get the memories out!

"We will see you again someday," whispered Karmen. She broke through her bubble of children and placed a rose on his grave. Leda, Mark, and Chloe followed to place theirs. Once they were done, we all went over and placed a rose as well. I saw that they had re-formed their huddle, so we decided to give them some space. The rest of us walked back inside.

"I can't believe this could happen," Mom shook her head as we sat down in the living room. "My brother-in-law. Gone." We all nodded gloomily, but then we heard sound of breaking glass upstairs. I slowly walked to the bottom of the stairs to see Xander standing there holding half of a pot. The other half was shattered on the ground.

He saw me looking at him, "Sorry." he began sweeping his mess with his bare hands.

"It's fine," I started walking up. "I'll take care of it later." When I reached him, I saw his eyes were puffy. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?"he snapped. "My dad is dead. Honestly, how do you think I'm doing?"

"I-I didn't...fine," I turned around.

"No, wait," he stopped me. "I'm sorry. It's just..."

"I know," I assured Xander. I put my hand on his shoulder. "I know you're hurting. You should at least go say a few words."

He nodded and walked out. I peered out the window to see him. I saw him walk over to his family. When they saw him, they reached out and grabbed him. They just stood there crying. I shook my head, the images flashing again. No, stop! Stop!

I ran into my room and threw myself onto my bed, pushing the vision away.

"Brittany?" I rolled over to see Leda standing there. I guess I fell asleep. Immediately, I sat up and hugged her. I didn't know what it was like to lose a father, but I know it must hurt.

"I know you're hurting," I sighed as we pulled apart.

She nodded, "We should all get used to it, though. I'm going to try not to be sad." She faked a smile.

"Good for you," I said. I stood up and began walking downstairs with her. I saw Karmen cleaning up Toby's bed area and handing it to Xander, who then put it in a garbage bag. I guess they didn't want anything that reminded them of Toby.

"Can we eat?" Leda squeaked, and everyone looked at us.

"Of course,"Grandma motioned for us to come over. She pulled Leda into a big hug before we walked to the kitchen. On the table sat the cans of food Grandpa got. I took a can of beans and began eating. Everyone slowly came over and sat down. Since the power was now out, we didn't have the dishwasher to have clean silverware. We passed around the can of beans, each of us taking a spoonful. We went around until it was empty.

"In memory of Toby," croaked Xander. We all nodded as we dispersed from the kitchen.

"I tried my hardest," whispered Dad.

"It's okay," I hugged him. "You couldn't do anythi-"

I was interrupted by a huge bang on the door, followed by several gunshots. Dad quickly took out his gun from his holster and peered out the window. I slowly went upstairs to grab my bow and quiver. I got ready to shoot as I walked downstairs. Dad and Xander were standing against the wall by the door. It suddenly flew open, and we were too shocked to shoot.

The man looked at us all. He dropped his gun and put his hands up. Several people came in behind him. When they saw us, they did the same.

"I thought it was empty here," said the man in shock.

~END OF CHAPTER FOUR~


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